Loulou's views

We're over the excitement and craziness of the holidays, and we've settled back into our daily routine quite nicely. Despite the freezing cold temperatures we've been dealt, I'm thankful for our daily routine. After school, although we're busy with activities and tennis lessons and Cubs, I always find time to spend quality time with my boys, so we can talk about our day, and truly connect. I cherish every moment—truly. I miss my boys when they were toddlers and young children; but now, it's an entirely new world of fun. I love seeing and learning about the things they are interested in; reading, writing, building LEGO, playing Mario Kart and Minecraft and spending time on their iPads actually playing educational games and learning while they're online. My oldest son is devoted to science and math; my youngest son loves to use his imagination with play, writing, and creating. They are very different, and yet similar in many ways; for example, they both love...

It was Christmas Day, many, many year ago, when my sister and I received our very first NES. (Thank you, Santa mom and dad!) Remember this? Of course you do! (And if you don't, clearly you're too young!) The NES started my love affair with Nintendo, and that Christmas Day, I'm not sure my sister and I did anything other than play Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt. All. Day. Long.  I'm admitting this to you here, because I'm honest—I never actually completed the original Super Mario Bros. all the way through, and 8-4 is still impossibly hard to finish. (Just don't tell my kids; I'll lose all my gaming credibility!) I spent many, many hours playing these two games, and then Gameboy came along and I got lost in a Tetris world. Now? I've got two new Nintendo lovers in my house—my two boys, who are almost seven and nine years old. Yup, they have a love for Nintendo that's larger than life, and they love to play everything from Animal C...